China Leads World In New Billionaires Despite Stock Market Chaos

China has 70 new billionaires on the 2016 Forbes Billionaires List, the world’s best. That increase helped to raise the China’s overall membership to 251 listees this year compared with 213 in 2015, solidifying its spot as the world’s No. 2 home to billionaires after the United States.

Among the most visible of the newcomers is Cheng Wei, CEO of ride-hailing firm and Uber rival Didi Kuaidi, which was formed in early 2015 when Cheng's company Didi Dache merged with
Alibaba-backed competitor Kuaidi Dache. He is one of a record 66 billionaires under age 40

How did China manage to create so many fortunes in the face of its well-publicized economic slowdown and industrial capacity glut? One reason: the country’s stock market – so chaotic in the past 12 months that the country replaced its chief securities regulator -- still provided a lot of room for new wealth.

That was true, for instance, for companies going public. There were 219 IPOs on mainland China’s markets in 2015, an increase from 125 in 2014, according to a report by PwC. New listings soared even though authorities suspended IPO approvals between July and November to try to stabilize volatile markets. Nine new Chinese billionaires debut thanks to IPOs on the mainland China or in Hong Kong including Wang Han, Wang Junjin and Wang Junhao – all from Juneyao Airlines; and Wu Zhigang, the co-founder of bakery Shenyang Toly Bread.

Another group of newcomers made the list through when their unlisted business was taken over by an already listed business though a "backdoor listing." Notable among them was Jason Jiang, who ranks at No. 240 on the list with a $5.4 billion fortune. His outdoor advertising firm Focus Media was rolled into Hedy Holdings, a listed Chinese computer manufacturer in which Jiang now has a 27% stake.

Online and mobile game entrepreneur Wang Yue, formerly an executive at 51.com and CEO of Shanghai Kingnet Technology, also made the list via backdoor listing in China. His Kingnet is doing well thanks in part to the success of its popular mobile phone application platform, xy.com.

Other China newcomers took advantage of their earlier access to the stock market to build new wealth in the past year by selling some unlisted to a listed company they also control, and getting stock or cash back. One winner: Xu Chuanhua’s Transfar Group, which sold 80%-owned logistics operation to its listed chemicals company. Li Fucheng made the list after selling a funeral services business he controls to his meat processing firm Fortune Ng Fung Food. Go figure.

The richest newcomer from China is Xu Shihui, chairman of snack maker Dali Food, with a fortune worth $6.2 billion; the youngest newcomer is 28-year-old Wan Han from Juneyao. They are among a recod 251 mainland Chinese on this year's list.